Oscars 2014: Lupita Nyong'o wins supporting actress Academy Award

Actress Lupita Nyong'o accepts the Oscar for supporting actress for her role in "12 Years a Slave."

Actress Lupita Nyong'o accepts the Oscar for supporting actress for her role in "12 Years a Slave." (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

Jevon Phillips

Lupita Nyong'o has won the Academy Award for supporting actress in her role as Patsey, a favored but abused slave in the Steve McQueen-directed drama "12 Years a Slave."

The win follows Nyong'o taking the same award at the Screen Actors Guild awards, a good barometer of Oscar winners. This is the first Academy Award for the Mexico City-born, Kenyan-raised actress. She has also won the Broadcast Film Critics Assn. Award for the role, as well as a number of regional accolades from critics/groups in Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Phoenix and more. Nyong'o was three weeks shy of graduating from Yale Drama School when she was cast by McQueen.

"12 Years a Slave" centers on the story of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man in the North who is abducted and sold into slavery in the South. Nyong'o's Patsey, a standout slave for Michael Fassbender's plantation owner, is raped and beaten, all while trying to find a shred of dignity to cling to. The film was nominated for best picture, and director McQueen and costars Fassbender and Chiwetel Ejiofor are also Oscar nominees.